French grammar

French Past Tenses

French has two past tenses. Passé composé is for things that happened. Imparfait is for how things were. Hear both together, and it gets easier.

Class French Past Tenses

These are the forms taught in French classes all over the world. We show them with real videos, not made-up ones.

Imparfait

Verb stem + -ais / -ais / -ait / -ions / -iez / -aient

Imparfait tells you how things were, not what happened. It sets the scene. Passé composé tells the story.